Hello everybody! Welcome to the Character Design Challenge (CDChallenge), an online community open to artists of different backgrounds, level and drawing style who want to create and share their unique vision of a chosen theme, every month!

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Challenge #51: Alebrije Creatures

This challenge is presented by Character Design Quarterly, the Official Partner of CDChallenge. Character Design Quarterly is a lively, creative magazine bringing inspiration, expert insights and leading techniques to professional illustrators, artists and art lovers worldwide. Subscriptions available now!

OPEN SUBMISSION DAY AND DEADLINE

Open submissions will be from March 7th, 2019 until the deadline of April 2nd 2019 at 11:59pm (GMT + 0:00) Dublin Time (Please don't forget the +1 hour Daylight Saving Time, used in Europe from April to October). All the artworks for the challenge will be carefully reviewed by the Character Design References team.

''In the 1930, a Mexican artisan called Pedro Linares fell very ill and while he was in bed, unconscious, he dreamt of a strange place resembling a forest. There, he saw trees, animals, rocks, clouds that suddenly turned into something strange, some kind of animals, but, unknown animals and all of them were shouting one word, "Alebrijes!". Upon recovery, he began recreating the creatures he saw in cardboard and papier-mâché. What he and all the others who followed his creative footsteps didn't know, is that at night these weird creatures come alive....’’

We invite all artists to unleash their creativity and design their unique vision of an Alebrije creature!

Guidelines

Your character can be of any gender, race and age. It can be anthropomorphic.

You can base your design on a fictional or a historical character/creature.

The theme offers many awesome characters to explore, and if you want your character can be from an alternative time (a futuristic Alebrije mutant lizard-cyborg from the post-nuclear war of the 25th century, a psychedelic Alebrije hippie-cameleon from the 60’s, etc.. ) but BE VERY CAREFUL! Make sure your design shows enough elements that connects to the theme or your artwork will not be accepted. We want the key elements for this theme to be clear and recognisable (colours, patterns, etc.), and not twisted in a way that makes it unintelligible.

If you want, your character can be a hero, an anti-hero or a villain.

Feel free to explore the rich and colourful history of the Alebrije creatures. Make sure to do your research extensively and don't forget to look up online for references and info. Start by checking out these Wikipedia pages HEREand HERE

If your character has a sidekick, please make sure we can clearly see who is the main character and who is his/her sidekick otherwise your artwork will be considered as a line up of characters based on the same archetype, which is against the rules.

Despite the number of additional characters, the focus of your design must be a single character. If it's unclear who is the main character of your design, your submission will not be approved.

Infants and children can be considered sidekicks only if your main character is an adult. If you are confused about this rule, please don't take any risk and include only a single character based on the theme in your work.

Your character can drive a vehicle or ride (another) creature

Your design can be created in any style and for many hypothetical purposes. For example, your artwork could be a character study created for an animated 2D, 3D, stop-motion, live action movie or for a mobile app and a video game (these are ''model sheet entries'', which are by definition, what is considered proper character design in the animation, game and movie industry). Your artwork can also be the illustration of a character for the cover page of a novel, a pen & paper role-playing game, a tabletop game, an art book, comic book or a children book (these are ''illustrative entries'', which are welcomed in the group even if they are not proper character design), and it can also be a design for a t-shirt, a brand or a sport team (these are ''mascot entries'' which are also acceptable as submissions in the group). Whatever is the type of artwork you decide to submit in the group (model sheet entry, illustrative entry or mascot entry), please make sure avoid to draw or paint any complicated, distracting and overly detailed background.

3D submission can be posted ONLY as additional entries, please READ THE RULES before posting.

Anthropomorphic animal versions of your character are obviously more than welcome.

Character EXAMPLES

✔ GOOD Alebrije winged turtle with his mosquito pet ( 1 character + 1 sidekick).✔ GOOD Old Alebrije frog riding a bicycle ( 1 character + vehicle).✔ GOOD A Alebrije chimera mom with her two cubs ( 1 character + 2 sidekick).✔ GOOD Giant Alebrije Mecha-Dragon with 2 small Dodo alebrije on his shoulders ( 1 character + 2 sidekicks).✔ GOOD A Alebrije bat-chameleon prog-rock musician playing a flute ✔ GOOD A lazy antro-sloth Alebrije

✘ NOT GOOD Two Alebrijes fighting each other in a duel ( 2 characters based on the theme).✘ NOT GOOD Two Alebrijes dancing ( 2 characters based on the theme).✘ NOT GOOD A Alebrije that doesn't look like one at all ( theme unrecognisable).✘ NOT GOOD Two Alebrijes getting married (2 characters based on the theme).

The Challenge Rewards are the official prizes of the Character Design Challenge! Each reward contains some of the best resources for illustrators and visual development artists available online today, and also two of the most interesting, original and well crafted graphic novels crowd-funded in the last years!

The Challenge Rewards are presented by: CtrlPaint, Masters of Anatomy, 21 Draw, Tatai Lab, Spaceman Project! A huge thanks to all of these awesome companies for being part of the CDChallenge journey!

Check the Rewards section of our website to discover all the prizes! You can find it HERE

If you wish to access the Challenge Rewards, simply repost your design for the current Theme of the Month on Patreon, as a Supporter of the CDChallenge. Being a Supporter doesn't just help us massively to keep the CDChallenge going, will also make you vote in the survey to choose the future themes every month, and discover them before anybody else, 2 days earlier! Visit our Patreon page here HERE

Character Design Quarterly

This challenge is presented and brought to you by Character Design Quarterly, the Official Partner of CDChallenge!

Character Design Quarterly (CDQ) is an exciting new print magazine for illustrators, artists, animators and character art enthusiasts. Releasing four times a year, the magazine will offer inspirational and educational articles, tutorials and interviews from top industry professionals specifically geared to helping artists hone their character design skills. This unique, engaging magazine will provide a regular stream of insider knowledge and illuminating advice from experienced professionals and freelancers to help artists of all skill levels improve their workflow and designs. New issues will be released at regular three-month intervals in September, December, March and June. Subscriptions are available now!

Character Design References

Character Design References™ (CDR) is a webzine dedicated to the art of animation, video games, comics and illustration and it's the largest community of character designers on the Internet. Every day we share the finest artworks, collect the best tutorials and showcase the greatest animated shorts with an international community of over 500.000 artists, art enthusiasts and animation fans.

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Since 2013, Character Design References has supported and inspired a new generation of artists. We share only the finest artworks, the best tutorials and the greatest animated shorts with an international community of over 500.000 artists, art enthusiasts and animation fans.